Sunday, 18 September 2011

Room 16's Movies

We showed 4/5 of our movies at assembly on Friday. Judging by the audience reaction I’d say they enjoyed them. I’ve had lots of feedback from teachers that has also been very positive.

One group set up accounts on Mooshi Monsters and using Quicktime recorded the interactions between their two accounts. They wanted to set up a fake interaction where two children would ask and answer personal questions. The children found that both Mooshi Monsters and Club Penguin would not allow personal questions to be asked. One student was even banned for a week for asking too many. So then they created accounts on a site called War Bears, which is similar to the others, but with less monitoring and safety. They set up two avatars, and asked and answered questions like name, age, school etc.... The problem they encountered was other avatars on the screen who were being controlled by children around the world, who would respond and interrupt their conversations. At one stage they spoke up with comments like, “stranger danger”, “Paedophile”, and “go away.” We thought it was great that children seemed to have some understanding of the dangers of these online games. To make their point at the end of the movie they introduce the viewer to Katie, does not turn out to be who she claimed. We are all very grateful to Mr lines our awesome graphics and designs teacher. He really helped to make this movie such a success. I think this group did a great job and I especially like the music they chose. They worked well together, had some creative ideas and had a great deal of fun.

The second group also worked well together and finished their movie a lot faster than the others. Their movie is all about avoiding scams and not giving personal details. They’ve gone with the Star Wars theme and have titled their movie Scam Wars. I think there is some very good acting in this movie. Lots of expression and some humour.

The next group looked at social media. Ruby turns 13 and her parents help her set up her first Facebook account safely. Using Quicktime they recorded and explained how to best set up privacy settings and provide tips about how to use social media safely and responsibly. This movie had great editing and appears very professional.

And the final group created two movies. Their topic was Cyber Bullying. Their first movie is titled, “It’s Not OK”. They got the idea from the ads on domestic violence. I love this video, short, sweet, and to the point. They’ve used some really creative camera angles. In one scene a student walks towards the camera while reading his line. This looks great.

Several students in this group have been victims of some serious cyber bullying, which is why I chose them. In their second movie some of them tell their stories. I think it will be powerful for other students to hear this. In some scenes they have hidden their faces and told stories from the bullies point of view. While these students weren’t the bullies the stories are based on true events that have happened to other students they know.

We hope to get all these videos onto DVD and the students are going to prepare resources to go with them (teacher notes and questions, worksheets for students etc). We hope that we’ve created a resource for future students to learn how to stay safe online. This is our rich task to end our Authenic Learning Journey.